Equipment for Sugar Roll:

1) White basin

2) Wide mouth quart mason jar with #8 metal screening

3) 1/2 cup measuring cup

4) Tablespoon measure

5) powdered confectioners sugar

6) spray bottle with water

7) paper plate

8) paper & pencil (or sharpie) for record keeping

  NY Bee Wellness Workshops * MITE Checks

Taking a sample:

• take a brood or pollen frame full of bees (check for queen!) and shake into a box or bucket
• use ½ cup measure to scoop up bees (~300)
• Check monthly starting in April; in August start checking at least every 3 weeks, this is when mite populations really start to take off

For Powdered Sugar Roll:

• Pour bees into a mason jar that has a mesh cap (#8 screening)
• Add 2 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar
• Roll about at least 30 seconds
• let sit at least 1 minute, roll for 30 seconds more
• shake out sugar/mites onto white paper plate or other surface
• repeat until you see bee legs
• spray with water to dissolve sugar to count mites
• release bees

Alcohol wash (or windshield washer fluid):

• Add 4 oz to jar with bees, or enough to cover the bees
• cover and shake vigorously for several minutes
• filter with screen, coffee filters, plastic varroa wash jar

What the numbers mean:

Take the number of mites collected, divide by 3, times 2 = % mite infestation

#mites/3 X 2 =  %  mite infestation

<2% no treatment, 3+ watch and then treat

Brood Examination (Drone):

Uncap ~100 cells in purple eye stage

Assess general mite load to get % (mites per 100 pupae)

Sticky Boards for 3 days; divide by 3 for a 1 day average    Treatment threshold:

12 mites in Spring

23 mites in Fall

NYBeeWellness.org